The Disillusionist

In autumn he comes to this town
 When the peoples guard is down
 On a day like today
 Overcast and gray
 Bells were all ringing
 The birds stopped their singing
 The wind caught in the trees
 Screaming to be free
 He alights from the platform
 In his usual uniform
 His skin looks like he slept in it
 Or had something rotten kept in it
 And snakes stir in the thistles
 Back of cats neck bristles
 'Round vicious lips the fur is stained
 The disillusionist is back again
 They say that he's famous from the waist down
 But the top half of his body is a corpse
 His gold won't buy him sleep
 His poverty runs so deep
 In winter he cracks, in summer he warps
 Hang around the backstage door
 But he knows what you're waiting for
 You rub yourself against his fame
 Already ready to bear the blame
 He asks you "Did you like my show?"
 As if he really wants to know
 Then doesn't wait for your reply
 He just pulls you back inside
 You've started feeling dizzy
 It isn't you or is he
 Persuade you mentally
 Undress you incidentally
 Down the swaying corridor
 People you feel sorry for
 But when he puts the gaze on you
 You're amazed at what you'll let him do
 He can turn wine into water
 Mother against daughter
 Juggles busy deadlines
 Gets himself off headlines
 Surrounded by his minions
 Who never have opinions
 Performing little tricks for you
 Puts it in a fix for you
 Smashes your watch with a hammer
 Caresses you with camera
 And says the magic words
 That nobody's ever heard
 Now the slur is fading
 Reality all-pervading
 It only makes you want him more
 It only makes you fawn him more
 And he does the Indian rope trick
 The one that makes you seasick
 And he keeps on filling up your cup
 But you keep on filling up
 And some of it's done with mirrors
 And some of it's done with scissors
 And some of it's done with cables
 And his hands under the table
 It doesn't matter you want to believe
 It doesn't matter if you have to leave
 You won't escape his orbit
 And the things that you must forfeit
 And the audience seems familiar
 Some of them in particular
 Bet you they are his plants
 When he plays the game of chance
 He reads the minds of jilted girls
 And the story really unfurls
 Cast a fortune for the man in the suit
 Who's suffering is very acute
 There's a rabbit in his hat
 But I thought I smelled a rat